In 2014, people found very old Viking treasure in a field in Scotland. It is called the Galloway hoard. It is the biggest Viking treasure ever found in Britain or Ireland. Now, after 1,000 years, we might know who owned it.

The treasure has silver and gold things. Today, it belongs to everyone because a museum bought it in 2017. A silver arm ring in the hoard has old writing on it. The writing says: “This is the community’s wealth.”

A museum expert, Dr Martin Goldberg, said this discovery is special. The treasure is now in Australia for people to see. He said, “Everyone owns a little of this treasure, like the writing says.”

Before, experts did not understand the writing on the arm ring. The words did not match old languages. Later, they saw the word “F” could mean “wealth.” Another word, “higna,” means “community” in old English. The first word might be a mistake for “this.”

Dr Goldberg said it is interesting to see “community” written on an arm ring. Usually, this word is in papers about land or money.

Another expert, Dr David Parsons, said the writing is strange. It has mistakes, but people today speak and write differently too. So, the message makes sense.

The Galloway hoard was buried around 900 AD. Someone found it with a metal detector. It has over 100 things from old England, Ireland, and even Asia. There is a beautiful silver cross and a jar with a Latin name.

Why was the treasure buried? Maybe people hid it from Vikings. At that time, Vikings attacked places, and kings like Alfred the Great were fighting them. Some think a church group buried their treasure to keep it safe.

Experts still don’t know which community owned it or why they buried it. But the writing on the arm ring gives a new clue!